Automated purchasing machines are becoming more and more prolific. Consumers have come to rely on the convenience and speed of automated teller machines (“ATM's”) for banking. Equally important, consumers have come to trust the security of electronic funds transfers. This speed, convenience and goodwill are beginning to be implemented in automated purchasing machines. Not surprisingly, gas stations, grocery stores, fast food restaurants, movie theaters, airports as well as other retail outlets have added automated purchasing machines to their standard modes of conducting business. Given their advantages, and as people become more accustomed to them, automated purchasing machines are likely to continue to proliferate.
There are a number of advantages inherent in automated purchasing machines. First, automated machines are convenient and reduce waiting time. For instance, the automated fuel pump enables the consumer to fill the vehicle and complete the transaction without having to leave the area around the vehicle. Second, automated machines offer additional payment options. For instance, many grocery store checkouts have card readers that enable the consumer to pay for groceries from a bank account or by credit. Third, the automated machines reduce labor. ATM's, for instance, allow banks to reduce the number of live tellers. Fourth, automated machines increase throughput. Automated fuel pumps, for example, reduce the amount of idle time that cars spend next to the pump.
A new entry into the world of automated purchasing machines is the self-scanning checkout, which has been implemented in various grocery stores and supermarkets. Self-scanning checkouts enable shoppers to scan, bag and pay for items with little or no assistance from store personnel. A consumer enters a grocery store and selects items for purchase in the conventional manner. Instead of approaching a standard checkout manned by a cashier, the consumer approaches a bank of automated self-scanning checkouts, wherein a single cashier oversees the operation of the bank of machines. Consumers scan their own items and pay for the items by entering a check, credit card, debit card or cash into the machine.
One problem associated with automated purchasing machines is that they can negatively impact point of sale purchases. For example, before the automated fuel pump, the consumer had to enter a convenience store or a store associated with the gas station. Although an inconvenience to the consumer, the mandatory visit to the store for payment (the old point of purchase) encouraged the impulse purchase of confectionery items, such as gum, candy, soft drinks, etc., and non-consumable items, such as magazines and newspapers. The automated fuel pump has moved the point of purchase to the filling station, where point of purchase products are not displayed or advertised.
In grocery stores and supermarkets, the self-scanning checkout also stands to reduce point of purchase sales for a couple of reasons. First, the consumer is preoccupied with scanning products and does not have as much free time to peruse and select a point of purchase product. Second, one primary advantage that self-scanning checkouts provide to the grocery store or supermarket is reduced floor space. For example, four self-scanning checkouts require approximately seventy-five percent of the space that four standard checkouts require. Rack space normally associated with standard checkouts, and which displays point of purchase products, is likewise reduced. Self-scanning checkouts stand to reduce the height, width and number of racks at grocery and supermarket checkout lines. Less rack space necessarily dictates less exposure for the point of purchase products.
A need generally exists for sellers of point of purchase products to capitalize on the growing proliferation of automated purchasing devices. As the point of purchase in a variety of retail areas increasingly moves away from a checkout counter to an automated purchasing machine, a need exists to provide an apparatus and method of displaying and supplying point of purchase products at the new point of purchase.
In particular, a need exists to provide an apparatus and method for displaying and providing point of purchase products in combination with self-scanning checkouts at grocery stores and supermarkets.